News, views and album reviews from a singer/musician

Main menu

Tag Archives: best

I’m going to be honest here. For as long as I’ve been a music fan I’ve always been a huge advocate of the album, and along with it, the concept of listening to an entire album from start to finish. I was thinking about writing this post earlier today and it struck me how much my listening habits have changed in 2014. Last year I blogged about how ditching CDs, then iTunes, (in favour of Spotify) had allowed me to listen to more music than any other time of my life. But it’s only now I’ve realised that, whilst true, with this freedom I’ve become impatient with the idea of playing a whole album from start to finish. Deep down, I hope the Guardian’s recent post on the death of the album isn’t a forecast of things to come… but I’m certainly not helping matters with my countless Spotify playlists.

Having said all that, there have been a handful of 2014’s albums that I’ve played straight through again and again – here they are:

2013 has been a milestone year for me. Having sold all my CDs in 2012 and moved to iTunes-only, this year I ditched iTunes in favour of the all-powerful Spotify. As a result, I’ve listened to more music than any other year, and discovered some incredible albums along the way.

When smartphones and tablets first started to dominate headlines, many commented that this would herald a new era of music creation and collaboration. Back in 2010, Blur and Gorillaz’s Damon Albarn wrote and recorded an entire album using his iPad – three years on and the list of intuitive, beautifully designed apps is growing by the day! The only problem is that with over 700,000 apps to choose from, the selection is baffling.

Which is a bit of shame for me … as a solo performer I rarely get to play duets. I’ve got a soft spot for the good ones though – from classics by Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald through to recent efforts by Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett.

Even now, when I’m performing covers I’m still surprised by how powerful a good song intro can be. Those crucial first few seconds can be so unmistakable- the look of familiarity that cascades over someone’s face as they realise what they’re about to hear is uncanny.

Here are my top 20 most memorable, and epic song introductions. If you think I’ve missed any, pop a comment below!